Defiance by Valerie Hobbs

I just picked up Defiance by Valerie Hobbs. It is a very quick read at only 117 pages, but it packs a lot into those pages. A young man named Toby who just discovered during his vacation that his cancer has returned is hiding it from his parents. He found an old bike that he is riding around the rural roads and sees a cow that is really skinny. Angry at the cow's condition he follows a dirt road to a decrepit house and meets Pearl, an old lady that is living there. Toby and Pearl develop a relationship that revolves around poetry, tea and Toby learning how to milk Blossom the cow. Although Toby is determined not to return to his cancer treatments, he learns a lot from Pearl about life. When to give up and when to fight. A great read. This book gave me goosebumps. 5 stars.

In the Garden

Well it's the first week of June and it has been a very cool spring. The tomato plants are not very big, but there are blossoms on the plants so maybe we will have tomatoes after all.






I just harvested some radishes but forgot to take a picture of them . The lettuce is doing fine, but I did have to squish to death some caterpillars that were munching on the lettuce.










The sugar snap peas are growing, but no peas yet as you can see from the pictures.




I also took some pictures of the herb garden. The oregano is taking over, but that's ok because the bees love the blossoms. The chives are doing well. I am going to plant some more thyme but I can't find a rosemary that is hardy enough for zone 5. I also planted some oriental poppies that are gorgeous but don't last long.













Here is one of the poppies. Beautiful isn't it?